Ruby and Rails Around the Web: Fun, Informative Sites for New and Experienced Developers

We like Ruby and Rails at Amzur Technologies; we make no secret of that. We like the platform’s flexibility, we like its cost effectiveness. And while we could make a long list of its technical merits, it’s those two simple, unavoidable facts that have in no small part contributed to the platform’s popularity. In roughly a decade Rails has grown from a relatively unknown pet project to a globally recognized application development tool set.

For our customers, the critically important advantages of flexibility and cost performance are more than enough to justify using Rails for their IT projects. But for application developers like us, one of Rails’ greatest features is its global community of dedicated, bright, and (yes) fun users.

And we thought the best way to show you that community is to, well, show you that community. So we’ve put together a summary of some of the top Rails-related sites around the web. Some are geared to the novice coder and others are aimed at the pro application developer, so hopefully there’s a bit of something for everyone. What they all have in common is they showcase the innovation and user-supported collaboration that we love about the Ruby and Rails community.

www.ruby-lang.org – Where it all started. Our list of sites would be incomplete if we didn’t include the location where you can actually download the official version of Ruby. The site has downloads, news archives, links to libraries and Ruby user groups, even a ‘Ruby in Twenty Minutes’ tutorial to get even the greenest newbie programmer started in this powerful, yet simple and elegant language.

http://tryruby.org – Florida-based Envy Labs’ Code School site has an excellent online introduction to the Ruby language. Starting with a fifteen-minute interactive tutorial typed right into your browser, newbies to Ruby don’t even need to download the language to get started. Says Envy Labs: “We developed Code School as an online educational platform and a perfect learning cocktail of video resources, coding in the browser, and gamification principles.”

http://railsforzombies.org – Once a novice coder has acquired a taste for Ruby, we recommend stopping by the “Rails for Zombies” site (also from Code School) for a fun, informative lesson in Rails. Touted as the “upgraded way to learn Ruby on Rails in the browser, with no additional configuration needed,” the site features five videos and corresponding lessons in Rails coding. “At the core of all our research we found that if zombies can’t get someone excited about learning to code, nothing can.” Between the tryruby and railsforzombies sites, we take our hat off to the smart folks at Envy Labs for creating these fun, innovative learning platforms.

http://www.rubyinside.com – Started in 2006, UK-based Ruby Inside is very likely the most popular Ruby and Rails blog around, boasting over 25,000 subscribers. Chocked full of the latest content of interest to the Ruby developer community, the site also includes tutorials, job postings, and ‘Ruby Weekly,’ a weekly roundup of the latest Ruby and Rails news and developments.

http://rubysource.com – RubySource is another popular Ruby and Rails site for developers that provides “advice, tutorials, commentary, and insight into the Ruby and Rails ecosystem.” Developed and maintained by Ruby enthusiasts, the site actively encourages readers to contribute topics and expertise to further the site’s state goal: “to be better Ruby developers.”

The above list of great Ruby and Rails sites for developers is, of course, not exhaustive, and no doubt we’ve left out a few deserving sites. Did we miss one of your favorites? Let us know! We’d love to hear about more developer-oriented Ruby or Rails sites you think should be included in this list.